Escape Artists
by TopHatRose
Summary: When Taylor wakes up in cryogenic storage, she naturally has a lot of unanswered questions. Where is she? What is Aperture Science anyway? And most importantly, why can she not remember almost anything from her life before Aperture? Taylor and her unlikely friends must find out quickly,before they face the consequences in the not-so-fun- house of mad science. Rated T for terrific.
1. Chapter 1

Escape Artists

by TopHatRose

_Running. Running as fast as I can. The shattered remains of one of the white wall panels lay on the floor behind me, and a hole- just big enough for me to slip through- gapes open, with shattered edges. I'm breathing in ragged gasps, my shiny white boots slamming against the cold, unforgiving metal floor. My grip on my portal gun, the gun that has saved me countless time over the endless testing holds steady. But, it's starting to slow me down, and I most definitely do NOT want that. I toss it behind me, hoping it costs them a hell of a lot of money if it breaks. It's the least I can do._

_If I tripped and fell now, all hope of escaping would be lost. I skid around a corner and add an extra burst of speed. I was never a particularly talented runner, but the springs in the heels of my boots propel me forward, allowing me to go at at least three times my normal speed. I can already hear the chairs scraping, and scientists shouting at one another far behind me from here._

"_What in the hell do you think you're doing?"_

"_Th-the test subject- she's escaped!"_

"_Then what are you doing SITTING HERE?! GO AFTER HER!"_

"_Yes, sir, um, sorry sir!"_

_Red lights flare just past the corner of my eye. Alarm bells scream. The intercom sputters to life above my head._

"_Test subject No. 268 has escaped the testing area, I repeat, test subject No. 268 has escaped the testing area. Contain her immediately! This is a CODE RED! You have all trained for this, you know what to do."_

_I'm almost there! Directly in the hallway in front of me, less than fifty meters ahead, there's a lift. Not the ones at the end of the testing chambers that I can recognize easily, a real lift. One that will go to the surface. When I get there, It will go up, and up, and up, and I will finally, FINALLY be free._

_I can hardly wait._

_The distance between me and the freedom that I've waited for so, so long narrows. Forty meters. _

_The wall panels in front of the lift begin grinding together._

_Thirty meters._

_The panels inch ever closer together, but there's still enough room to squeeze through. My legs feel as if someone is sticking knives into them. My arms are pretty much the same. The constant testing has taken its toll on my body. Adrenaline pumps through my veins. My heart beats loudly in my ears. Bum-bum. Bum-bum. Bum-bum. I can hear loud footsteps behind me. A scientist. One that oversees the tests. Any other day I would probably walk up and slap some sense into his ugly face, but now is not the time. _

"_HEY! STOP RIGHT NOW OR I"LL SHOOT!"_

_Shoot? What in the hell is that supposed to me...oh no. NO! WAIT WAIT NO DON'T SHOOT- OOOW!_

_I trip and go flying, and when I sprawl to the ground, one arm is pinned painfully below me. With shaking hands, I stand up and frantically feel all over my neck where the shooting pain was. Its not a bullet. If my worst suspicions are confirmed, the I am in very, very big trouble._

_I was right. Not bullets, but tranquilizer. Even a turret would have been better than this. At least that's quick, and not... especially painful. What awaits for me is far, far worse. Never ending testing. I know some who would call it a fate worse than death. My vision starts darkening around the edges, everything blurring into an abstract mishmash of shapes and sounds. I crumple to the floor. My eyelids grow heavy, and my breathing and heartbeat slow._

_With my last snips of consciousness, I see the panels slide completely shut less than ten meters away, destroying my hopes of being free._

_Everything turns black, and I am falling down a long tunnel, infinitely-_

"GAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

I scream and shoot straight up in bed, clutching at my throat. Letting out a breath of air with an audible _whoosh_, I close my eyes and sink my head back into the pillow. A dream! It was all just an... exceptionally terrifying dream, but, nonetheless, a dream. But wait a minute. I slooowly open one blue eye and look around. Something was most definitely very, _very_ wrong.

I don't know where I am.

I throw the covers off me, and...oh no. I'm wearing an orange jumpsuit. Just great. Okay. That's fine. Nothing to worry about. I just, um, woke up in a place I don't recognize, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, everything's fine-_OKAY, THAT'S NOT WORKING, THIS IS VERY, VERY BAD._ Before I can get into full-blown panic mode though, there's a rather loud knocking sound on the door.

"Hullo? Anyone in there?" The whoever-it-was knocked again. "Hellooo?"

"Um, I'll be there in a second! Just hang on!" Huh. My voice has a slight accent, kind of like the one the...person/thing/I-don't-even-know at the door has. So that's...nice, I guess? I don't even know at this point. I find a pair of enormous, googly black-framed glasses on the counter and put them on. Wow, that's better. At the very, _very_ least, my vision's clear. That's always a bonus. There's a mirror on the wall, and I rush over for just a quick look.

...Well. Apparently, I have red hair that looks a bit like I stuck my finger into an electrical outlet. My glasses are enormous and make my eyes look all googly. I have about a million freckles dusting my nose and cheeks, and a round face. I'm unusually tall for twelve years old- about five feet, seven inches- and skinny, that's a plus too. Enormous long arms, legs and feet, bonus. This just gets _better _and _better._ I pull on the rather strange-looking white boots that were at the foot of the bed, and tie back my frizzy red hair with a piece of elastic.

"Um, not to rush you, but we're in..._pretty big trouble_, so it would be _absolutely tremendous_ if you could just open the door. Riiiiight...now."

"Alright, alright, keep your pants on, I'm coming."

I walk over to the door, tapping the toes of my boots so they stay on. I open the door slowly.

"Look, mister, if you could just tell me where I am that would b-_OHMYGODYOU'REAROBOTGEDAWAYFROMME!"_

We scream at the same time and I simultaneously leap away from the door, trip over my boots, and land on my butt on the carpeted floor. I stare up at the small, spherical, blue-eyed robot that just came into my room via a rail that I hadn't even noticed before on the ceiling.

"GAAH! ...Oh, um, sorry, miss! Are you...alright? You look... great, by the way. Very...not dead. Alive. Unlike almost everybody else, heh. We'll just check that off the list. _Tick._ Not dead."

_This is surreal. Only natural that a goddamn robot would come into the room, _I think. _What else?_ I haul myself to my feet. "Where am I? What is this place? Where are my parents? Do I even _have _parents? Where do I go? What do I d-"

I am interrupted (naturally) by an impossibly loud _grating_ sound, kind of like if someone who was incredibly immature had gotten two battleships and were smashing them together. Repeatedly. It's not in this room, obviously...

I stare at the robot hanging from the ceiling incredulously. "Are those sounds coming from outside? What's _going on _out there?!_"_

" Look, miss, everything is kind of..._not good _out there, and we need to get out of here _right now_. I was looking around for test subjects, the kinds that had not, um...stopped being alive. I _think_ there are a few more, but we'll look for them later, no worries! Um. So, how are you feeling? ...You don't _look _particularly brain-damaged. And, and, you can talk! Great for you! That's a plus, check that off the list too."

"Er...great. So. How do we get out of here?"

He immediately starts talking. "Well, I am going to do a _manual override_ on the wall out there, yeah? Then, that's where _you_ come in. You're gonna love this. _You _are gonna go through that hole, in the wall, that I will make. By smashing this room against the wall."

"_WHAT?!_"

"...And we'll meet up ahead, right? And, there's a..um, _very_ special gun that I need you to find, one that makes holes. Not _bullet_ holes, but- well, you'll see what I mean when we get there. Cheers!"

He raises himself through a black metal hatch in the ceiling. I think I'm probably cracking up. There's absolutely no way in heaven or hell that this could be real.

"You might want to hold onto something. Word of advice,up to you, this rail has seen better days."

There is another ear-splitting grinding sound and the room lists to the right. It starts moving, and it feels kind of like zip lining, except without a harness, or helmet, or any protective gear of any kind. The room lists to one side, and I scream and stumble, arms flailing, and latch onto the clothes-hanging pole in the closet as if my life depends upon it. Which it probably does.

"ARE YOU ALL RIGHT DOWN THERE? CAN YOU HEAR ME? I HEARD SCREAMING, ER, JUST WANTED TO CHECK. UM, JUST TO GET OUR STORIES STRAIGHT, IF ANYONE ASKS, LAST TIME YOU CHECKED EVERYONE LOOKED VERY MUCH ALI-," he shouts through the ceiling, just as the wall next to me crumbles. I can't see it, but I can sure as hell hear it. Ouch. The smashing sounds drown out all of whatever he's nattering on about. The wall in front of me gives a great shuddering groan, and with small popping sounds, all the nails go flying off, and the wall sloowly peels away. When I look outside...oh. Oh my god. _OHMYGODIDON'TLIKEHEIGHTSGETMEOUTOFHERE!_ I'm too utterly shocked to make a sound, much less screaming. There is an enormous, yawning _abyss_ below the container. All around me, there are dozens upon dozens of other containers, in various states of decomposition. They're almost all empty, and I can actually see some that look...not quite as demolished as the other ones, so I can assume that there are probably, maybe some other test subjects there. I wish I hadn't looked down, now my head is filled with images of what it would look like if I accidentally fell out of the ride, and went tumbling down, down, down, down- _Nononononono don't even go there don't think about it don't think about it don't think about it-_

"Um, I'm gonna have to perform a _manual override_ on this wall! Could get a _tiny_ bit tricky, really do hold onto something this time!"

The horrible screaming death trap suddenly slides backwards on the rail, and without warning, starts rushing forward, picking up speed until it rams into the wall. The wall cracks, moans, and finally collapses the pressure. The room creaks and grinds to a halt. I open my eyes hesitantly, and find that I have squeezed myself into a corner of the closet, curled up in the fetal position. I haul myself to my feet, and my legs feel like Jell-O. I really _DO-FRICKIN'-NOT _like heights. At all.

"Well, there we are," The robot reemerges from the ceiling. "Now, I'll be honest, you are...probably not fit for these particular types of tests. Very difficult. How old are you, anyway? Seven? Eight?"

"I'm _thirteen._"

He looks surprised. "Really? Well. Learn something new everyday, I suppose. So. Go on, I'll meet you up ahead, in a few hours. Off you pop. Remember, you're trying to find a _portal gun_! One that makes _holes_!"

"Alright, thanks! See you up ahead!"

And with that, I leap out of the container onto wonderful, amazing, beautiful solid ground. Yeesh. This place looks like a bomb hit it. Dozens of pieces of plaster and metal piping litter the floor. Vines coat almost everything in a coat of vegetation. I turn around, to ask if I'm the last one left, or if there are any other test subjects, but he has already gone. Only the empty container remains. Ah well, I'll ask him later. It can wait. Oh, look over there, that's a big piece of glass! I walk over and peer down into it. There's a room down there, one that looks really strangely familiar. ...Alright. No more stalling.

Let's do this.

I tap the glass lightly with the heel of my boot, and it shatters, with a loud tinkling noise. Jumping down into the room, I am careful not to cut myself on any broken glass. I am ready.

Maybe things are looking up.

_**'Ello, guv! TopHatRose here! I'm gonna be honest, I have never actually written fanfiction before, this is my first time. I am excited and honored to be here, and I hope you guys like, read, review, and favorite my story! If you feel like I could improve in some areas, please give me suggestions. Go on. Just click that little review button riiiight...there. You know you want to. **_

_**A few things: I am in the fandoms of Invader Zim, Doctor Who, My Little Pony; Friendship Is Magic, and last but definitely not least, Portal! I absolutely despise pairings, not because they're yaoi or yuri, but because they're almost always horrifically OOC. Another another thing: TheSkepKitty, if you are reading this, I just wanna say I am you're biggest fan! I've read all of your MSTs (yes, even My Immortal and ITS MY LIFE!), and I can't wait to see your site on Tumblr! Cheers!**_

_**~TopHatRose**_

_**PS; flames are NOT, I repeat, NOT appreciated! DON'T be a FALMER TROLL!1!11!111**_


	2. Chapter 2

After brushing off the glass dust that floated up in a sparkling cloud when I landed on it, I look around the room that I jumped into. It's a pretty simple layout: bed, table, radio, toilet. I flinch, startled, as the intercom sputters to life. " Hello, and welcome back to the Aperture Sciiiiiiiiiii-" It breaks off there, trailing off into static. Ooooh-kay then. That was disturbing. Wait, what? _Aperture_? I swear, I have heard that name befo- "-iiiiiiiiience Enrichment Center! Due to events of potentially _apocalyptic _significance, emergency testing has been activated."

Alright, now I _know_ something is really wrong. After seeing all the vegetation and the fact that everything's practically falling apart at the seams, I thought that it had just been completely abandoned and everyone else is above ground. (I know that I am underground because everything here is much too big to fit inside a regular, above-ground building.) Not ideal, but at least not as scary as these implications. Apocalyptic is very, very, catastrophically bad. Apocalyptic means that I could literally be one of the last living human beings on Planet Earth.

I let out a long breath of air and run my fingers through my hair, unsuccessfully. It's like coppery-red steel wool, minus the steel part. I press my back against the wall (trying to extract my hand from my hair) and slide down into a sitting position. This is bad. No wonder the announcer is malfunctioning- it's probably been dozens, possibly hundreds of years since it was last working. That reminds me, the announcer has been weirdly quie-

" The portal will open, and emergency testing will begin in 3...2...1..."

Oh. There it is. Wait, portal? What is that even supposed to mea-_whoawhoawhoa_! There is a small flicker in the lights, and the white panel across from where I'm sitting suddenly just _opens._ There's not really any other way to describe it. The oval, tall portal is orange, and I stand up, dusting myself off. And to think that I was just sitting feeling sorry for myself! Of all the stupidest things to do! I run through the portal and find myself outside. I could actually see myself running through the portal! This is the coolest thing ever!

Alright, have to focus. I run around the enclosed room, and find the door that will lead me to the first test. It hisses open, and I step through. I-oh. Oh no. Oh nononono. I remember this place. I don't know how, but I do. It was a very long time ago, but I still remember. Instead of pushing away the memory, I try to retain as much as I can.

"_No! I don't WANNA do tests!"_

_The intercom on the other end made a crackly sound, like someone was sighing in frustration or exasperation. Or both. The male voice spoke. "Look, kid, I just need you to do the tests. That's all. Just, ah, over a hundred little, easy-peasy tests, okay?"_

_The tiny, freckled ten-year- with a mane of frizzy red hair folded her arms defiantly._

"_...but I don't WANT to."_

_The next sentence sounded as if the scientist at the intercom wanted to throttle her._

"_Just finish the tests, and then we'll think about letting you go."_

"_Oh. Really?"_

"_No. Now finish the test."_

_There was a buzzing noise, and the message ended. Taylor could see the scientists milling around in the observation decks, talking and scribbling notes on clipboards. The glass was sound-proof, so she didn't know what they were saying. She had already finished the test almost a half-hour ago. She had just refused to leave, instead opting to sit on the storage cube on the button, make up insulting poetry about the scientists, sing screechily, trying to break the glass on the observation deck by throwing the Weighted Storage Cube, and having lengthy conversations with the video cameras, (voicing both sides) even though they obviously couldn't answer._

_She sat on her cube, folded her arms, and pouted. She wanted to cry, but she sure as hell wasn't gonna give them the satisfaction, nuh-uh._ _She did NOT want to be here. All she__knew was that she had woken up in a cryo chamber, and she had tried to escape, only to be tranquilized (not too humanely) and brought back here. She hated them, and SHE. WANTED. OUT. But, she reasoned with herself, there wasn't any reason to just sit here forever. She stood up, and walked through the door, trying unsuccessfully to bring her cube with her, and watching it fizzle into ashes. Ah well, there would probably be more later on. She sauntered through the door, flashing an extremely rude hand gesture towards the observation deck as she walked out._

I try to recall more after that, but the memory ends there. Fantastic. Now I know that I was here before, when I was nine or ten years old, and I was a test subject, and evidently, I was possibly _the most aggravating _test subject so far. I snigger quietly under my breath. They were getting what was coming to them anyway, haha. I finish the test as fast as I can, and the one after that too. Before long, and after four tests, I can hear Blue (that's what I now call the British robot on the rail anyways...) "Oh fantastic, you made it! Well done, you! There should be a portal device on that podium over there. I think it fell off though, can't see it. Maybe it fell off. Want to go have a quick look?"

"Yeah, I'll check it out." I'm thankful to have somebody else to talk to. It's kind of unnerving when you're all alone with your in this place, with only the quiet humming noise of machinery, deep in the bowels of Aperture. I carefully walk over to the podium, and-

_Crunch._

I freeze, because what I just heard wasn't something I stepped on, like a piece of glass. It was under my feet.

The floor under me is hollow. And something just crunched.

This is not good. Not good at _all._

"Um, what was that?" I say evenly, still standing immobile on the floor.

"What was what?

"That crunching noise, under the floor."

He laughed nervously. "Ah, I don't know what you're talking about. Go on, just grab the portal gun, there you go!"

I don't believe him, but I don't really have any other options, except for sitting here, doing nothing. Forever. And I'm obviously not going to do _that. _I take another step. Okay, at least that wasn't so baAAAAAAAAAAH!

The floor completely crumbles away underneath my feet, and I fall down into the shadowy hole that has replaced it. I am screaming, and the wind is whistling in my ears, and-

_WHOOMPH!_

I have about a split second after landing on my feet on the concrete floor to think, "_I'm safe!_" before the springs in my boots activate with a _twang _sound, and catapults me at roughly forty miles per hour, forehead first at the nearest wall. The last thing I hear is Blue yelling, "Is the portal gun down th-" Then my forehead smacks the concrete.

Darkness.

_**A/N: Sorry for the short chapter! I'm not feeling very well the day I post this, sore throat, runny nose, stomach cramps, the works. Ick. Also, if I have horribly mangled the Announcers lines, I apologize. Please review, I would love to see your opinions about my story! Again, if you think that something needs work, or if you don't like something, or if you have a question regarding the story, be my guest! Also, I'm sorry about the terribly long authors note. NOT! **_

_**As always, flames will be used for marshmallows and beany-weenies that I will steal from your pantries. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!**_

_**~TopHatRose**_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

_Fire. Fire everywhere. He is screaming at me, insanely furious. "You HAD to play bloody cat- and mouse, didn't you? Well, guess what? I have NO IDEA HOW TO FIX THIS, AND NOW WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE."_

_No._

_I'm not gonna die. I'm going to fix this, goddammit, if it's the last thing I do!_

_My enemy-turned-friend, who under some really incredibly bizarre circumstances got transferred into a potato battery is shouting at me-something about a stalemate button. Oh, right! Okay, button. Gottafinditgottafinditgottafindit- there it is! I shoot a portal above it, and shoot another one in the Conversion Gel underneath Him. My friend. I wish, oh I wish that I could have the old Wheatley back, before he was corrupted, before he tried to kill me, before all the tests...but there's no going back. I have to do this._

_I run underneath him, and jump into the glowing portal, him ranting about how this is all my fault, and now we're all gonna pay the price-_

_BOOM. _

"_PART FIVE! BOOBY-TRAP THE STALEMATE BUTTON!"_

_I have a brief moment of flying, wisps of smoke curling from my smoldering clothes, and it seems like everything is in slow motion around me. When I land,I can hear something crunch inside of me as I slam into the ground. The smell of burnt hair fills the air, and my ponytail is smoking along with my clothes. The pain is like nothing I've ever felt before, burning, searing. Even worse than breathing neurotoxin, or the turrets bullets, or the red lasers singing my legs. _

_My gun. Where is it?_

"_WHAT?! ARE YOU __STILL__ ALIVE?!"_

_Just ignore him, Chell. You can do this. I pick up the portal gun, ignoring yet another snapping flash of pure pain. Tears are running down my face, making clean trails through the grime and dirt and sweat and blood. I'm sorry, Wheatley. I'm sorry, my friend._

_I aim my gun at the moon, whisper a prayer under my breath, and pull the trigger._

Uuugghhh...

Wha-...

...Wha' happened...?

The first thing I realize is that I'm lying all splayed out on the floor, arms and legs bent at weird angles. I slowly prop myself up on my elbows, cursing silently under my breath. My head feels like it's crammed full of cotton balls. I reach my hand up and feel my forehead- _OW_! That _hurts_! As I try to massage the pain out of my forehead, I notice everything looks...different. And not in a good way. I try to get up and- _oh God!_

_OHDEARGODWHAT'SWRONGWITHMYLEGS- _oh. Okay, panic over. There are vines snaking their way around my legs, and I yank them off without incident. But wait. If there are vines on my legs, then that means...that...m-means...oh God. Oh nonononononononono. NO! _Thisisn'thappeningletthisallbeabaddreamPLEASE!_

I frantically wrack my brains. _Come on Taylor, thinkthinkTHINK! Okay, what do you remember? Falling, and then my boot-springs bouncing me into the wall, and Mr. British Blue Robot saying something...something about the portal gun, I think he was asking if I had found it. Real nice, seeing someone falling down a fifty-foot-deep pit and asking if they found the portal gun, instead of, you know, wondering if they're alive or not. But what after that? Darkness, and a...really bizarre dream. Maybe it means something? Better find out._

Okay. It's obvious that I've been out for a long time. My head hurts, and my mouth feels like it's been stuffed with cotton. Okay, priorities: I need water, food, and I have to figure out if there is anyone else alive, in cryo or not. I drag myself to my feet. And immediately fall over. What? I look down at the "long-fall" boots. Wait, where's the spring? Oh. Both are lying over there, all twisted up into weird shapes. Broken clean off. I look closer, and- _hold up just a damn second_! On the heel, it says, in large red letters, "-REPLICA. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO JUMP OFF SURFACES MORE THAN EIGHTY FEET HIGH.-"

Of course. That would have been nice to know before I fell into a forty-foot-deep pit. At least they worked...enough...to not kill me on the way down. I yank the busted boots off my feet, and start walking, one boot in each hand. The room I'm in is more of a passageway, with sparking wires and bits of plaster hanging down from the ceiling.

The gloomy, dim hallway suddenly opens up into a lit room, and I squint and shield my eyes with one hand. It hurts, but at least now I can see more than a few meters in front of my face. My eyes are still adjusting when suddenly I see them.

Beautiful, scribbly-looking murals cover the walls. They all are laid out like a great big book around the circular room. Light filters through the dust from a great big gaping hole in the ceiling. The murals show what looks like a robot hanging from the ceiling, with scientists surrounding he/she/it and holding clipboards or taking notes. The next picture is a lot more disturbing. It has the same robot as the center of attention, but all the scientists lie dead, some alive but choking, and everything in this picture is tinged green, like the air itself is sick. Yikes. Moving on now.

The next picture has yet another picture of the same robot, and a woman in an orange jumpsuit, kind of like mine. She doesn't have any long-fall boots, instead she has braces on her legs, with a spring in the back kind of like my boots. There is a picture of a slice of cake too, and as if on cue my stomach growls loudly. Time to find something to eat. There is a little tower of ceiling tiles, and I can see something sparking blue-white sparks in a little shower all the way to the floor. I walk up the elevation, careful to not slip or cut my feet on something. There it is! At the top, theres a white...something. Looks like a gun. Maybe it's one of the portal guns Mr. British Blue Robot was talking about! Pick it up, and the sparking stops. I shake it, and there's no rattling or anything, so I _guess _it's safe...

I experimentally shoot a portal at the wall, and another over across the room, there is an opening They both open with a barely audible _whoosh _noise, and I jump down, barely avoiding an upturned nail on the floor. _That_ could have been bad. I run through the blue portal and come out the other in front of...a staircase? I run up the metal stairs, and when I get to the top, there is a room in front of me, blocked off by some metal ceiling bits. Must've fallen. I-wait, what was that? It sounds like... someone talking. There is a staircase in the room next to me, and it sounds like it's coming from wherever it leads to.

I walk up the stairs, and I was right. There _is _someone in there, talking to someone -or something- else out of my field of vision. I walk up behind her. She has brown hair, and is wearing an orange jumpsuit with a huge, white Aperture logo on the back. I can't see her face. I tap her on the shoulder "Hello?"

In hindsight, maybe walking up behind somebody and tapping them on the shoulder when you're in the middle of a completely insane science facility _probably_ wasn't the best idea. She screams, and swivels around on her swivel chair and wields the keyboard above her head. Before I can raise my arms up to defend myself, she smacks me in the side of the face so hard that I stumble back a few steps and land on my butt on the floor. "OW! OI, WHAT WAS _THAT_ FOR?!" I shriek, clasping both hands to where the keys hit. Her eyes widen even more when she realizes that I'm not going to kill her (though at the moment that's up for debate). "OH MY GOD! _Sorry sorry sorry_! I just...I...you surprised me. I thought I was the only one left."

_**A/N: I am so, so, SO sorry about the lack of updates! There is no really good reason for it, and in my freetime that I could have used for writing, I instead opted to play Kentucky Route Zero and Half Life. I am a horrible person, and we weren't even testing for that. Anyway! Please review, and if you find something wrong with the story, or if you don't like something, or if you love it to pieces, PLEASE PM me or leave a review! Thanks so much! Luv you all! PEACE!**_

_**~TopHatRose**_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

**AN: I am SO, SO, **_**SO**_** SORRY about the horrible lack of updates! I've had a LOT of stuff going on (need to sleep, homework, my laptop being confiscated, something about "not being allowed to write fanfiction at 11:00 at night" or something. PSSSH. SLEEP IS FOR WIMPS.) ANYWAY! Enjoy this chapter, or I will hunt you down like the dirty monkey you are and eat all the snacks in your fridge! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.**

"OH MY GOD! _Sorry sorry sorry_! I just...I...you surprised me. I thought I was the only one left." The girl stammers at me, looking horrified. I clamp my hands to the side of my head. _Ouch. _Was that keyboard metal-plated, or is that just me? I am sitting in the concrete floor, and I look up at the girl, who is still holding the keyboard above her head. I can't really see her face, as she is wearing a long, blotchy gray scarf that is covering almost all of her face in the silky folds of cloth. I can't even see her eyes, as she's wearing really dark sunglasses. She only looks about thirteen or fourteen, judging from how tall she is, and the pitch of her voice. She has white headphones, with a mouthpiece and black Aperture logo.

"What are you _doing _in here?" I ask, grasping the wall and slowly raising myself up to my feet. I don't have my boots anymore, they were too awkward to try and carry along with my portal gun, so I left them behind in a testchamber earlier. My portal gun! I pick it up, being careful not to scrape it on the floor. "Who are you?"

"Um, my name's Ami, if that's what you're asking..."

"Alright then, _Ami_, how did you get down here? Where are you from? What's even going on-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What? What do you mean, you don't know what's going on? It's not like you've been asleep for the past three days or something..." She trails off, looking at me in a strange way. "Then again, knowing this place, that's exactly what could have happened. Hold on." She sits back down on her chair, and I step up until I'm standing next to her. "What's your name? Should I just call you Girl With Red Hair?"

"Taylor I-don't-know-if-I-have-a-last-name. What were you doing before I came in here?"

"Hacking," she says with a touch of pride in her voice. "I was watching security footage, exploring around in the databases, looking for info on whatever the hell happened to this place. You?"

"I was in those motel room things, and then this robot came to help me, he had a British accent, and-"

"What?" She interrupts me, sounding more than a bit startled. "What did the robot look like, the one who rescued you?"

"Well, he was metal, uh, rather small, round, talked a lot, and had one big blue eye. What about it?"

"Well, if what you're saying is true, then you're supposed to be dead. Also, his name's Wheatley."

"Um, _excuse me?!_"

"Here, I'll show you, hold up a sec!"

She turns around and picks up a small wire, with a plug on the end. She inspects it, then shrugs and brushes away the hair from the back of her neck.

"Er, what are you do-"

And then she plugs it in.

For a split second, nothing happens.

Then her hair, scarf, and sunglasses fizzles away, like a hologram. She turns her head towards me, and I can see what has happened.

Her whole head is made of metal. A robot. An _android_. She has two cartoonishly large, almond-shaped blue eyes, softly glowing. No mouth, though. Her head is shaped more or less like a human head, except more...pointy. She is still wearing her headphones. She turns her head towards me and blinks. Her metal eyelids make a _plink_-ing sound. "Um, what's wrong? You're all pale."

"You're a robot." I say, stating the obvious in a hoarse voice. "Honestly don't know why that surprises me anymore."

She gives me a steady look. "And you just figured this out?" Then her eyes widen. "Oh, my hologram was on, wasn't it...sorry."

Alright, I should just stop being surprised now. It's not like this is the most insane thing that's happened to me so far. "What are you doing, there? With the plug?"

"Oh, right." She sounds a bit miffed that I'm still not in awe of her being a robot. Well, you're gonna have to do better than that to surprise me in this place. "Hold on a second. I'm accessing the security footage, to show you what happened while you were in sleep mode."

The wire is attached to the side of her computer. It's a rather large, clunky, old fashioned one, too. The screen (which was originally simply glowing blue) flickers, then changes to a gritty, black and white security video. It is outside a door in a hallway, and Wheatley rolls up to the door on his management rail.

"_Hello? Anyone in there?" _A knocking noise._ "Helloooooo?"_

It takes Ami and I almost three hours to watch all the security footage. First, Ami (which turns out to be an abbreviation for Advanced Mechanical Intelligence) shows me the part where I fell into the pit and Wheatley left me. She explains, "When he saw you fall into that pit, he just assumed you were dead, and when you didn't say anything or try to meet him up ahead, he just went off to find the other test subjects. There were seven live test subjects in all, and only about three or four survived. And one of them's standing right in front of me." She raises her bottom eyelids in what could be interpreted as a smile.

Then we watch all of what happened to the last subject, who Ami calls Chell. I felt so bad for her, she was probably trapped in this place for a hell of a lot longer than I was, and nothing remarkably horrible has happened to me yet but I'm still itching to get out of this place. After watching the videos until Chell is let free (good for her!) Ami switches it off. " After the camera loses sight of the elevator, the recording just ends. No data coming in or out."

"That's weird." I remark.

"Well, at least we're safe in here. No video cameras or panels or anything. There's no way She can get to us." Ami calls the female robot in charge of the whole facility Her or She, never Her real name, GLaDOS. The Genetic Life and Disc Operating System. Absolutely terrifying.

The constant chirping of the alarm was beginning to annoy GLaDOS. And when things started to annoy GLaDOS, they usually had about thirty seconds, tops, to eitherstop being annoying or stop being alive. Usually it was the latter. "_Computer. Isolate the source of the alarm._" There were a few electronic beeps from the computer. "Source location: Testing Track 000032. Life form: Juvenile Female Human. Artificial Intelligence Detected: Advanced Mechanical Intelligence."

"_Perfect. I was needing some new test subjects, and the Cooperative Testing Initiative will have more...unpredictable results with an Artificial Intelligence and a human." _She switched on the PA system in the testchamber Blue and Orange were in. They were having a fine old time taking turns melting each others limbs off with lasers. "_Blue. Orange. I have something I need you two to take care of. And Blue, if you don't stop murdering Orange I will have to murder you myself. Understood?"_

Blue lowered the Discouragement Redirection Cube with a disappointed gurgle. They both stood in front of the security camera (Orange with most of her left leg a bubbling, gooey mess) and nodded.

"_Good. Don't disappoint me."_

Then the bots exploded.

Wait a minute. "Do you hear that?"

"What?"

"I don't know. It sounds like hissing and clanking. Like pistons."

The punchy _clop _noise of a portal opening behind Ami and I causes both of us to turn around and look on in fright.

Two robots, burst through the portal, making chattering, gurgling noises at one another. The taller, slimmer one has a bright orange optic and a significantly higher-pitched voice. It's companion, shorter and round has a blue optic and a voice pitched very low. Both carry portal guns that have blue or orange stripes painted on the side. Ami and I shoot to our feet and look at the robots. They're standing across from us, so close I could reach out and touch one. "_Have you seen these two before?" _I hiss through gritted teeth, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. "Never in my life." She says, quiet as possible too.

The orange one looks at the blue one, and then grabs my arm. The blue one grabs Ami's wrist.

They're _DRAGGING US OUT OF THE ROOM!_ Ami and I scream and kick, but to no avail. The blue one places a purple portal on the wall, that looks a lot like it leads too...Oh shit.

"RUN, AMI!" I scream in her direction, but when I turn around, Blue is empty-handed. Looks like she already got away. It takes a second to register the full meaning of this before they throw me into the swirling purple portal, into a brand-spankin-new testing track.

_She left me._

The intercoms turn on with and audible _click. _A female voice comes out, sounding robotic and human at the same time.

"_Blue, Orange, you each receive ten Science Collaboration Points. Well done. As for you," _She says the last sentence aimed towards me, with a twinge of venom in her voice, "_I had no idea there were still rats in this facility._"

_**AN: I am a horrible person, and we weren't even testing for that. I sincerely apologize for the lack of updates in the past week or so. And this chapter is a nub, so I don't even have a good excuse! ANYWAY. Please read, write, and review. THANK YOU GUYS FOR SUPPORTING ME! It really, really helps! TopHatRose, OUT!**_


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